CIGARETTES AND THEIR IMPACT IN WORLD WAR II

Amarilla Blondia

Amarilla Blondia 11

In recent decades anti-smoking activists determined to propagate as muchinformation on the negative aspects of cigarettes as possible havebombarded American society. However, there have been occasions whencigarettes have been helpful. For example, during World War II cigarettesserved more than one purpose on and off the battlefield. Photos, articles,personal accounts, and medical studies illustrate that cigarettes hadbiological and psychological benefits, making them an integralcomponent of the war. For those soldiers who smoked, cigarettesprovided temporary relief from mental and physical stresses. Non-smoking soldiers used cigarettes as a currency with which they couldpurchase things such as clothing, alcohol, and sex, or easily sell them toother soldiers because all soldiers favored U.S. cigarettes.30

Scholarly discussions of the role of cigarettes in World War II aresparse. Martin van Creveld argues that it was the organizational ability ofarmies to satisfy and manipulate soldiers’ sociological and psychologicalneeds that determined the soldier’s durability and compliance.31 AlexWatson asserts in his study that self-deception often gave soldiers a“distorted, overly-optimistic but beneficial view of their surroundings andpersonal chances of survival.”32

Tobacco has been a part of American culture since before theRevolutionary War. When asked how civilians could best help theRevolutionary War effort, George Washington said, “If you can’t sendmoney, send tobacco.”33 In 1917, General Pershing similarly asserted,“You ask me what we need to win this war? I answer tobacco as much asbullets.”34 Pershing cabled the government in Washington, “[t]obacco isindispensable as the daily ration; we must have thousands of tons withoutdelay.”35 During WWI the U.S. military believed the effect of cigaretteson the troops was positive and thus provided tobacco as part of thesoldiers’ rations. The War Industries Board estimated that World War Isoldiers smoked sixty to seventy percent more tobacco than they did in

30 B.W.E. Alford, W. D. And H. O. Wills And The Development Of The U.K. TobaccoIndustry, 1786-1965 (London: Methuen, 1973), 402.

31 Martin van Creveld, Fighting Power: German and U.S Army Performance, 1939-1945(London: Greenwood Press, 1983).

32 Alex Watson, “Self-Deception and Survival: Mental Coping Strategies on the WesternFront, 1914-1918,” Journal of Contemporary History, 41, no. 2 (April, 2006), 248.

33 Eric Burns, Smoke Of The Gods: A Social History of Tobacco (Philadelphia: TempleUniversity Press, 2007), 94.

34 Ibid., 157.35 Peter Taylor, The Smoke Ring, Tobacco, Money, Multinational Politics (New York:

Zonderzan Publishing House, 1984), 1.

12 Perspectives

civilian life.36 Production of cigarettes increased from eighteen billioncigarettes in 1914 to forty-seven billion in 1918 and continued to increaseto meet the tremendous rise in cigarette use during the first half of thetwentieth century.37 “In 1911, the average American smoked 141cigarettes. In 1941, he smoked 1,892, almost fourteen times as many.”38

With American industries readying for increased wartimeproduction, the War Labor Board was created to supervise and wrangleAmerican industry into greater productivity. The task assigned to thisboard was to turn U.S. industry into one cohesive and efficient unit. In1941 “[President Roosevelt] proclaimed the [tobacco] leaf one essentialcrop and ordered draft boards to defer the men who grew it wheneverpossible.”39 Roosevelt as well as many of the upper echelon of the militaryknew that cigarettes were very important to Americans.

With any product, advertising brings potential customers to aparticular brand. Although cigarettes had been advertised extensivelyprior to World War II there was a shift in how the message wasconstructed and packaged in 1941. The story of the Lucky Strikepackaging is indicative of how the cigarette companies wanted the publicto view them as doing their patriotic duty to help win the war, as manyother industries did. Prior to the war Lucky Strikes were packaged verysimilarly to its current form, however, the package was green and red,instead of white and red. The marketing department had deemed this lattercolor combination undesirable to women just prior to the conflict. Withthe start of the war they changed their packaging to white with redlettering, stating that the government requisitioned their green paint(containing copper) to use for camouflage paint on boats.40 This was anadvantageous way for Lucky Strike to change their packaging, making itmore appealing to the general public through the company’s public andpatriotic support of the war effort.

Cigarette companies used both the format and the content of theiradvertising campaigns to bring attention to their brand. Multiple brandsutilized style of comic books to advertise their cigarettes. This formatwould bring a heroic character (male and/or female) to the reader and

36 Elizabeth M. Whelan, A Smoking Gun: How the Tobacco Industry Gets Away withMurder (Philadelphia, G. F. Stickley, 1984), 50.

37 Ibid., 72.38 Burns, 197.39 Burns, 197-198.40 Toby Thompson, “Pack Art: Wreathed in the Smoke of Dreams,” The Washington Post

November 8, 1982, 22.

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provide information of his/her patriotic duty.41 After the spine tinglingmission, they would light up with their favorite brand. Though this wasonly an advertising blitz, many pilots have written of lighting up to relaxafter bombing runs over Europe or Japan. Other advertisements usedphotographs or drawings of heroic soldiers and pilots ready to enter orjust returning from combat to emphasize how much troops enjoyed theircigarettes. Regardless of the manufacturer, one thing was certain, soldiersneeded cigarettes and buying XX brand would help them in their fight.42

Relaxation and steady nerves were highlighted in cigaretteadvertisements. Camel, the largest brand distributed amongst the soldiers,ran full-page announcements listing the reasons why steady nerves andrelaxation were so important to the troops in performing their duties.These advertisements were published in many formats, from the comicbook style to photos and drawings. Each advertisement, geared mostly topeople on the home front who could send cigarettes abroad, sought toeducate the general public as to why they should mail their particularbrand of cigarette to their loved one stationed abroad. All of the adsrevolved around the idea that these cigarettes would allow the soldier tofocus so that they could better perform their job and get home safely.

In 1943 the United States military re-designed the K-ration to bemore compact and easier to prepare. In addition to the more efficientdesign, the military also made cigarettes standard issue with every meal.The cigarettes were provided at minimal or no cost to the U.S.government by various manufacturers. The K-ration contained a meat orcheese product, crackers, a powdered juice drink to be added to water, andsomething sweet such as chocolate.43 A soldier would also receive a smallfour-pack of cigarettes along with matches in each ration. This additionwas a much welcomed by the soldiers as up to seventy-five percent ofsoldiers smoked.44 Although this claim was never officially verified, it issafe to say that the number of soldiers that smoked was very high.

41 Camel Cigarette Ad Paratrooper, Newsweek, XIX no. 6, June 29, 1942: 29. CamelCigarette Ad Pilots, Newsweek, XX no. 4, July 27, 1942:35. Camel Cigarette Ad Hellcats,Saturday Evening Post, June 10, 1944, Back Cover. Chesterfield Ad Jungle Soldier,Newsweek, XXI no.6, Feb. 8, 1943, Back Cover.

42 Camel Ad Man in the Army, Newsweek, XXI no. 11, March 15, 1943, 27. ChesterfieldAd Writing Home. Newsweek, XXI no.2, January 11, 1943, Back Cover.

43 Mark Henry, The U.S. Army in World War II (Essex: Osprey Publishing 2001,) 119.George Forty, United States Army Handbook 1939-1945 (London: Alan Sutton, 1995).

44 James Calvert, Silent Running: My Years on a World War II Attack Submarine (Somerset:Wiley, 1997), 86.

14 Perspectives

As the war continued, cigarettes were plentiful to Americansoldiers and those that smoked had easy access via rations or at the localU.S. military Post Exchange, which was set up throughout Europe and insome areas in the Pacific. Through the K-ration redesign, which wascompleted in 1943, soldiers had “in most cases between five and sevenpacks a week [via rations], with additional quantities available at the PX,which never seem to run out.”45 Cigarettes were supplied to the troops inunlimited quantities whenever possible.

Cigarettes were so popular among the troops that numerous campsaround Europe were nicknamed after various cigarette brands. In Rouen,France, Corporal William Hanford was a forward artillery observer wholater remembered, “Camp Lucky Strike was only one of several ‘cigarettecamps’. I had to wonder whether the tobacco companies had something intheir contracts with the army requiring these camps to be named in returnfor the free cigarettes they gave us.”46 Though the nicknaming of thesecamps has not been linked to any agreement between the companies andthe government, due to the popularity of the various cigarette brands, it islikely that the troops named them after the cigarettes distributed to them.

Without the specific numbers kept by the U.S. government or bythe cigarette companies themselves, we do not know exactly the quantityof cigarettes that were purchased by the military. However, we know thisnumber is very large. In an April 16, 1945 advertisement from Newsweek,the Veeder-Root company, supplier of counter machines to the War LaborBoard, counted 137,671,282,000 cigarettes made in the last six months of1944. In other food industries forty percent of items made was diverted tothe troops. If that same percentage holds for cigarettes, 55,068,512,800cigarettes were diverted to the military in the last six months of 1944.47

The mental health of soldiers during wartime is critical. SinceWorld War I and the implementation of heavy shell bombardments, andsubsequent shell shock, military institutions in the U.S. and abroad lookedfor ways to heal their soldiers' psyche. In World War II cigarettes becamean important psychological coping mechanism for soldiers. More than adecade after the war, psychologists confirmed the soothing potential ofcigarettes, arguing that reasons for smoking include “relief or tension,stimulation, sociability, gives people something to do, gracefully.”48 In45 Burns, 201.46 William Hanford, A Dangerous Assignment: An Artillery Forward Observer in World

War II (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2008), 232.47 Veeder-Root Advertisement, Newsweek, April 16, 1945, 20.48 M. Powell Lawton, “Psychosocial Aspects of Cigarette Smoking,” Journal of Health and

Behavior 3, no. 3 (Autumn 1962): 163-170, 165.

“Ease the Pain,” Newsweek, Vol.21, no. 11 (March 15,1943), 27.“Casualty in Tunesia,” Newseek, Vol. 21, no. 12 (March 22,1943), 18.“Writing on the Wall,” Newsweek, Vol. 21, no. 11 (March 15,1943), Cover.“Pyle and Marines,” Newsweek, Vol. 25, no. 18 (April 20,1945), 78.

“Dinner K Ration,” US Quartermaster Foundation. http://www.qmmuseum.lee.army.mil/subsistence/KRation_Dinner.JPG“Aid to Russia,” Newsweek, Vol. 20, no. 5 (August 3,1942), 15.

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his memoir, combat reporter Don Whitehead commented, “the sharedcigarette…often gave them [soldiers] the necessary courage to faceanother day of fatigue, discomfort, and pervasive boredom.”49

Assessments such as those offered by Whitehead offer a glimpse into thelives of soldiers indicating that men often spent many hours awaitingtroop movements or other routine matters of war. During those times,soldiers were restricted to camp and did not have many ways to pass thetime. Smoking became a coping strategy for boredom.

Battle related reasons for smoking are some of the more typicalreasons why soldiers smoked. According to research psychologists atColumbia, “emotional stress actually triggers an intricate psycho-biological mechanism that dictates how much a person will smoke at agiven moment…[and] smoking frequently seems to increase when aperson is under stress.”50 With smokers, stress influences how much theysmoke. With war all around them, soldiers on both sides smoked morethan they ha ever had before. One British soldier stationed in North Africaargued cigarettes were one of the things that helped win the war. Heclaimed, “I can tell you, fags for a soldier were very important in thosedays. Two things won the psychological war in my view-a cup of char anda fag. Whatever morale a Tommy was in beforehand, it’s right high upafter he’s had his fag [cigarette] and a cup of char [coffee]. So long as hecan sit quiet for a minute or two.”51 While stationed at Oro Bay, NewGuinea in December 1943 as a part of the Army Transportation Corps,Private Sy Kahn mirrors the British soldiers sentiments, “[l]ast night Iwent to bed early, but an Aussie soldier came into the tent. He stuttered sobadly that I was curious about him. I climbed out of my mosquito net tosee him. Over cigarettes and candlelight we had an interesting talk.”52

This diary entry also matches many of the photos published in variousmagazines in the United States and abroad.

Film clips and photos of the 1940s often depict smoking as a wayfor soldiers to bond with each other. This bonding is evident in photosfrom every country.53 Newsweek included photos of American soldiers in

49 John Romeiser, Combat Reporter: Don Whitehead’s World War II Diary and Memoirs(New York: Fordham University Press 2006), 4.

50 Joel Greenberg, “Why Do You Smoke?” Science News 111, no. 19 (May 1977): 297-298.51 Max Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II (Guilford: The Lyons Press, 2004), 199.52 Sy M. Kahn, Between Terror and Tedium: A Soldiers World War II Diary, 1943-1945

(Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2000), 40.53 It is interesting to note, however, that the Nazis were the first government to warn its

military and the population at large about the negative health effects of smoking. RobertProctor, The Nazi War on Cancer (Princeton: University of Princeton Press, 1999).

16 Perspectives

Okinawa enjoying cigarettes together with journalist Ernie Pyle.54 Thiswas a way for many journalists and soldiers to take a moment to relax andremove themselves mentally from the war. Newsweek and otherperiodicals of the time published countless photos of military men,American, Russian or even German troops smoking. 55

Prior to and during the war the United States government spentlarge amounts of money on propaganda to vilify both the Japanese and theNazi government. This propaganda energized the general public as well assoldiers to support the war effort and created animosity against the enemy.On the battlefield, especially in the Pacific, the atrocities of war helpeddehumanize the enemy so that fighting them would not have damagingeffects on the psyche of soldiers fighting on the front lines. However,there was a need to de-vilify the enemies once they had been captured orhad surrendered. Cigarettes were the tool of choice in helping to transformenemies into less hostile people.

In Hollandia, New Guinea, late in 1944, Private Sy Kahn noted inhis diary the capture of sixteen Japanese soldiers one day. He noticed that“the fellows got quite friendly with them and soon had some of theyounger and, consequently, less stoic and more friendly Japs conversingand making signs as best they could. After being plied with cigarettes, afew started writing good-naturedly enough on papers and on Aussie, Japand American money.”56 When comparing the European and Pacific wartheatres, most historians and soldiers agree that there was a largedifference between the levels of savagery. The Pacific theatre wasconsidered to be much more destructive and savage with a higher degreeof animosity between Japanese and American troops than with Germanand American troops. However, in both areas, cigarettes were used as anessential tool to de-vilify the enemy and bring a human perspective toprisoners.

Soldiers stationed abroad during the war had very few reminders ofhome. Though parents and loved ones would send letters and, at times,some cookies, cigarettes were one of the top items requested by and sentto soldiers from home. According to one observer of the war, “cigarettesformed an umbilical cord linking soldier to civilization. There was littleelse in the daily grind of being bombed, burned and maimed, of killing or54 Ernie Pyle, Photo, Newsweek, April 30, 1945, 78.55 Burns, 170. (Photo). Aid to Russia (Photo), Newsweek, XX no.5, August 3, 1942, 15.

Two SS Soldiers resting under a Military Vehicle. NA012557, December 1, 1944.http://pro.corbic.com/enlargement/enlargement.aspx?id-NA012557&caller=search(accessed March 13, 2010).

56 Kahn, 122.

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being killed in foreign countries to remind them of home.”57 This ideacannot be better represented than via a comment made by GeneralMacArthur to a hometown group that had raised ten thousand dollars forthe troops. When they asked the General what the troops needed, heanswered that cigarettes would bring about more contented soldiers. Heargued that “the entire amount should be used to buy American cigaretteswhich, of all personal comforts, are the most difficult to obtain here.”58

Cigarette companies aided this notion by advertising this idea inconjunction with ready-to-mail cigarette cartons.59 These cartons ofcigarettes were already packaged for shipping, could be purchasedcheaper than regular cartons and the price included the postage.Consumers just had to put an address on the carton and it was ready to go.

Cigarettes have physical effects in addition to psychologicalconsequences. During the 1970s scientists and doctors finally agreed that“smoking as an expression of tension is one of a few hypotheses whichhave received several independent confirmations.”60 Today it is knownthat “the physiological effect of nicotine has two stages.”61 When nicotineinitially enters the blood stream it acts as a toxin to the body. The bloodvessels constrict and restrict the flow of blood. In the next instant theblood vessels relax lowering blood pressure and the pulse providing arelaxing effect.”62 This relaxation effect is what causes a smoker to feel awave of relief come over them after they light up. The actual physicaleffects of cigarettes on blood pressure and pulse rate provided a pseudo-medicinal quality necessary on the battlefield.

As cigarettes helped to reduce physical manifestations of tensionand stress for soldiers, they became a very important part of their lives.Shell shock was a major problem on both fronts, both in Europe andJapan. While there was often no way to avoid being in the midst of battle,many soldiers became physically weakened due to being in theseconditions for extended periods of time. American commandersunderstood that cigarettes could help their soldiers and due to their alleged“harmlessness” were provided in quantity.63 While on a U.S. attacksubmarine in the Pacific a soldier wrote of “watching the smokers (three-57 Burns, 201.58 Ibid., 198.59 New York Times, Display Ad 10 No Title, May 11, 1942, 7. New York Times, Display Ad

2 No Title, April 15, 1942, 10. Los Angeles Times, Display Ad 18 No Title, September 20,1943, 16.

60 Lawton, 168.61 Richard Klein, Cigarettes Are Sublime (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993), 144.62 Greenberg, 297-298.

18 Perspectives

quarters or so of the people on board) light up their cigarettes, some withtrembling hands, and seeing color come back to their complexions andresponse to their faces after a run-in with a Japanese enemy destroyerdropping depth charges around his submarine.”64 In New Britain, afrontline soldier noted in his diary “[m]any of the fellows were badlyshocked. Brothers seemed shell-shocked when I saw him in the hall,shaking badly, eyes as wide as saucers. He asked me for a cigarette whichI did not have.”65 The accounts of the soldiers indicate that these menwere concerned only with dealing with their immediate circumstances.

Photographs from the period also portray a pseudo-medicinal use ofcigarettes. In photographs of soldiers in triage areas, many injured soldiershad cigarettes in their mouths. In a photograph taken after the storming ofthe beaches in Normandy, France, numerous soldiers were treated forinjuries sustained during the invasion, and all of them had cigarettes intheir hands of their mouths.66 Similar photos were published in variousmagazines during the war.67 Since battlefield medical assistance waslimited and often could not provide much-needed pain relief whensupplies of morphine were low, soldiers relied on cigarettes to help themwith pain management.

Due to the large-scale damage and the monetary cost of fighting,there was very little in Europe that functioned properly after the war. Theeconomies of many European countries were almost shattered. After thewar the United States took an active role in helping the governments ofthese countries to rebuild their infrastructures. During this period ofeconomic instability only objects such as gold, silver, other preciousmetals, gems and consumables were valid currency. For quite some timeafter fighting ended “cigarettes remained the only stable currency in theretail marts of Germany, Italy, and France.”68 Almost anything could bepurchased with cigarettes. As British translator Patricia Crampton wroteat Nuremberg, “[t]here was nothing you couldn’t buy with cigarettes, youcould buy your train tickets and you knew the price of everything in

63 During the 1940s there was some inkling in the scientific community that cigarettesmight be harmful to the body. However, it was not until the late 1950s that this harm wasconsidered real by a majority of the medical community. Starting in 1965, cigarette packshad a warning label.

64 Calvert, 86.65 Kahn, 79.66 Army casualties on Omaha beach, June 6, 194. Photo SC198810. http://pro.corbis.com

(accessed March 13, 2010).67 Casualty in Tunisia (Photo), Newsweek, XXI no. 12, March 22, 1943, 18.68 Burns, 206.

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cigarettes.”69 While in Paris, an Army Private in charge of transportingwar materials was asked a Frenchman from a second story window if hehad any cigarettes to trade. Since he wanted a pair of boots in the correctsize, the soldier traded the Frenchman his ill fitting boots along with twopacks of cigarettes.70

Though most consumer goods were rationed, people with the rightcurrency could buy anything they wanted in an active black market duringthe war.71 While in a German prisoner of war camp a soldier wrote “[w]eprisoners kept the Black Market in Operation. There were five articlesfrom our Red Cross parcels we used for trade: cigarettes, tea, coffee, soapand chocolate. After a trade had been completed, we would give our guarda cigarette or two.”72 Once again General MacArthur was correct.Cigarettes provided these soldiers with one of the few comforts of home,although they had to be traded first.

Cigarettes provided benefits to those who had them. For those whosmoked, cigarettes helped to get them through the war both mentally andphysically. People who did not smoke used cigarettes as a currency withwhich they could purchase the things that could offer comforts such asclothing, alcohol, and even sex. Of course since the mid-1960s Americansare well aware of the tremendous health hazards tobacco products poseand it is obvious that cigarette consumption among World War II soldierscaused smoking related illnesses and deaths.

69 Arthur, 470.70 Kahn, 130.71 Allan M. Brandt, The Cigarette Century (New York: Basic Books, 2007), 100.72 Douglas Rice, Through Our Eyes: Eyewitness Accounts of World War II (Bloomington: iUniverse, 2008), 158.